Academic Integrity (Honesty) Policy
What is academic integrity?
The IB requires academic integrity / honesty to be embedded into the life of the school. The programme Standards and Practices state that "Teaching and learning promotes the understanding and practice of academic honesty." The IB expects a school to have an academic policy that is aligned to IB expectations.
This page has been designed as a professional development workshop on academic honesty that you could run with your staff. It will also help you devise or revise your academic honesty policy. The workshop will enable colleagues to become familiar with a clear set of definitions used to explain academic honesty (including definitions of terms used when discussing malpractice: plagiarism, collusion, citation, referencing and paraphrasing), discuss how the school can be proactive in promoting academic honesty, provide safeguards for students during their learning and signpost resources to support detection of malpractice.
Professional Inquiry
- Form: What examples and artifacts can be identified that demonstrate the academic integrity policy in action?
- Function: What examples are available that demonstrate the school has developed a culture of integrity?
- Responsibility: How do students begin to develop an understanding of ownership of knowledge?
- How does the school create a culture where the contributions of others are recognized?
- Causation: What are, or have been, your biggest challenges? How have those had an impact on the programme(s)? How did, or how will, the leadership address those?
- Change: How do the policies developed impact the culture of your school? How do you know?
The IB (in Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014, page 6) provides a good outline to help you write or revise your academic honesty policy. Use this, together with the notes below, to write or revise your school policy on academic honesty.
Key issues to consider
- Prior to writing or revising your policy carry out an audit so you know what the state of play currently is in your school. Be honest in what you find.
- Make your school philosophy on academic integrity clear.
- Your policy could be written using the three broad headings of: Prevention (information provided to students in the form of student guides, teachers and parents about malpractice - collusion and plagiarism); Monitoring processes (professional training and the use of software); and Sanctions (school policies and IB regulations).
- Include the IB definitions of plagiarism, collusion and duplication of work. Include an extract from the provisions of the Regulations relating to academic misconduct.
- Reflects the five fundamental values —honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility
- Make the link between academic integrity | honesty and the attributes of the IB learner profile.
- Provide examples of correct citation and referencing.
- Provide examples of correct and incorrect paraphrasing.
- Be clear about the difference between appropriate collaboration and inappropriate collusion.
- When do you provide students with academic guidance? When do you teach students to reference their work correctly? Who teaches this? What opportunities to practice this do students get?
- How are teachers expected to model the policy? When was the last time staff were provided with professional development on academic integrity | honesty? Regular meetings with faculty members to verify that all the parties have a clear understanding of the expectations of the IB in regard to academic integrity | honesty.
- How do you publicize your academic integrity | honesty policy: to students, to parents? Briefings with parents/guardians of students at the beginning of the program and before entering the final phase of the program, to reiterate the expectations of IB in regard to academic integrity | honesty and the consequences of an incident of academic misconduct.
- When was your policy last revised? Who was involved in devising or reviewing your policy? Was your Librarian central to this process?
- Who decides whether there has been malpractice?
- Are you clear about what the punishments are for detection of malpractice? Have you used quotes from the IB?
- Does your policy include evidence of a review process such as the date of the most recent review?
Appendix 1 of the Guide to evaluation (2022) contains a very helpful list of expectations. You can find this document on the Programme Resource Centre (PRC)
What is academic honesty?
The IB has clear definitions for academic honesty and malpractice (collusion, plagiarism etc.). Students are expected to clearly and fully acknowledge any third party used to produce the work they submit to the IB for assessment. Teachers are expected to model this practice in their teaching.
In the following section are a variety of activities you can use with staff and students to explore the nature of academic integrity in your school.
Activity 1: Defining academic honesty
In table groups (which could be subject based) use the following activity to brainstorm what you mean by 'academic honesty'. You may like to consider the following prompt questions:
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Use Six word memoir protocol to crystallize your definition of academic honesty in just six words and be ready to post your definition on a wall for all to see and share in plenary. |  |
The following video provides a useful introduction to some of the key principles behind academic integrity, including plagiarism.
Click HERE for an excellent introduction to Creative Commons
What is plagiarism? What is cheating? How might we need to review or update our definitions in light of artificial intelligence?
Matt Miller has written some thoughtful pieces to help you rethink your school policy. See AI in the classroom: What's cheating? What's OK? and How to define "cheating" and "plagiarism" with AI.
Artefact forum
Steps
There are five mandatory IB policies covering the important topics of language (international-mindedness), academic integrity (ethical behaviour), admissions and inclusion (equal opportunities) and assessment (growth culture).
- Choose one of these five topics.
- Imagine you are an anthropologist. Choose, find, or create an artefact that represents the topic you have chosen.
Here are responses from IB educators around the world. I appreciate how they use their own culture as a lens for explaining the policy.
“It was difficult to think of an artefact that truly represents the idea of ethical behaviour or academic integrity. In the image below it shows a person holding a mask with several others in front of them. You can see each one is its own unique size, shape, and design. As with ethical behaviour, student work should always be uniquely their own. IB says that student work should "correctly attribute to their sources and acknowledge when work is not their own." Students should remain honest with all their work and continue to strive being responsible when it comes to creating their own work and not just stealing it from others. I believe this photo can emphasize the idea that students should make sure their work is uniquely their own.” (Allison Bernat)
“I think it is interesting how we can look at an image and have completely different opinions of it. I too think this picture represents ethical behaviour but from a negative standpoint. Keep in mind that I do not have any background knowledge of the image I am solely basing my response off first impressions. When I look at the picture of indigenous artifacts, I see them on display from a Euro-centric viewpoint. I then start to think about how these masks were gotten. Were they ethically sourced? What is the story behind the masks? I know that I would not have had the same questions pop into my head 20 years ago. My opinions have changed along with the times that we live in. I think this would be a great image to show to students and have an open discussion. Ethical behaviour and academic integrity fall on a spectrum and both ideas have evolved over time.” (Daisy Peay)
The beast in the image below is called Xiezhi (Chinese: 獬豸 xièzhì) or haetae (Korean: 해태, often spelled haitai or haechi) which is a
legendary creature in East Asian mythology (Northern Chinese, Japanese, and Korean mythology). According to Chinese legend, Emperor Shun's minister Gao Yao had a mythical, goat-like creature called the Zhi (廌) which he used in criminal proceedings whenever he was in doubt. The animal instinctively knew the innocent from the guilty; it butted the latter with its single horn.
As an inherently just beast, the Xiezhi was used as a symbol of justice and law in China. The Censorate of the Ming and Qing eras, who were responsible for the monitoring of the civil service, wore the Xiezhi as a badge of office. Similarly, military policemen of the Republic of China wear a badges bearing the Xiezhi and it is engraved on the gavels in the law courts of the People's Republic of China.
According to different Chinese historical books, Xiezhi is a symbol of courage, justice. It is the Chinese law totem. Xiezhi is the symbol of open and above board; integrity and probity; acting frankly and impartially. The Xiezhi is known as haetae in Korea. Seoul city has officially used Haechi (origin of Haetae) as the symbol of Seoul since 2009.
The reason I choose Xiezhi it because it represents honesty, justice, integrity and probity, these attributes are the ideal ethical behaviour in Chinese culture. For anyone who is trying to cheat others, Xiezhi would “eat and swallow” the cheater, which can be seen as punishment for dishonest behaviours. From law to academic field, the symbol of Xiezhi and the modern academic integrity policy has a lot in common: if scholars or students who are trying to play as a cheater, they will have to face serious consequences and been perished from academic world. This is the same process for been “eaten” by Xiezhi. (Xiaoman Sun)
I have chosen to represent the academic integrity (ethical behaviour), and I think the best artifact to represent this is a mirror. A poem by Dale Wimbrow comes to mind, and I have included it below.
I have told my students many times that everyone is free to cheat in life, and they are surprised to hear this. However, we are not free from the repercussions and the consequences of our actions, and that is the catch about honesty. Doing the right thing, working hard, staying true will always be rewarded in our own minds, and we will be able to be proud of ourselves. Cheating or being unethical will always be punished inside our own minds. It all comes back to you in the end, just like your reflection on a mirror. (Joseph Grande)
The Man In The Glass
Peter Dale Wimbrow Sr.
When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.
For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.
He’s the fellow to please – never mind all the rest
For he’s with you, clear to the end
And you’ve passed your most difficult, dangerous test
If the man in the glass is your friend.
You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.
"I chose this sign to represent the Academic Honesty Policy. It is meant to show that authentic work is what is valued by our school and the IBO. Students should not take the "shortcut" and make sure to correctly acknowledge sources as well as ensure that they are creating their work on their own. The Academic Honesty Policy is meant to teach students ethical decision making as well as create students who are responsible and respectful. It helps to create a fair environment." (Megan Kuczmarski, MYP coordinator and Assistant Principal for an MYP school (grades 6-8) in Milwaukee, WI.)
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Creating a culture around academic integrity
Academic integrity policy
Tagline: Always respect another’s ideas and work
In practice: Not taking part in any kind of plagiarism, collusion, duplication of work or dishonest practices.
Present your own work, cite your sources, and do not falsify any documents.
This policy sound like:
- Is this an idea you came up with?
- Is this something you wrote?
- Did someone else give you this answer?
This policy feels like in practice:
- I feel proud when I produce my best authentic work
- It feels good to give credit to the author
- It is rewarding to collaborate with my peers, and not just present work as my own
This cultural statement was crafted by Alicia Giguere, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Situation Description:
Imagine you are working on a history project about the Civil Rights Movement. You find a captivating article that you'd like to include in your essay. Following the Academic Integrity Policy, you don't just copy and paste the key points. Instead, you read the article carefully, understand its essence, and paraphrase the ideas in your own words. You also make sure to cite the source appropriately in the footnotes and the bibliography. When you submit the project, the sense of accomplishment you feel is unmarred by doubts about originality or fairness.
Consider this rationale for your Academic Integrity Policy – in the form of key messages to students and parents:
Our Academic Integrity Policy benefits your child's education in several ways:
- Ethical Responsibility: It fosters a sense of ethics, boosting their confidence in tackling challenges.
- Innovative Thinking: Encourages original research, promoting creativity and critical analysis.
- Responsible Leadership: Teaches values like honesty and collaboration, shaping them as ethical decision-makers.
- Life Skills: Equips them with lifelong skills and integrity for meaningful achievements.
Our policy nurtures well-rounded individuals for a future where integrity and excellence coexist.
Academic Integrity - Quilt of Quotes
The following quotes are taken from IB documentation on academic honesty. Display them as quotes on the wall in the form of a Quilt of Quotes. Use the Quotes that speak to me protocol to explore what the IB means by academic honesty.
- Ask each person to individually look at the ‘Academic Honesty Quilt of Quotes'. Try to read everyone. Then choose the quote that most speaks to you.
- Table groups - each person picks a relevant quote. Tell the “story” and significance of the quote to the rest of group and explain how it exemplifies current and future practice.
- Have a group discussion around the quotes. Which themes come out of your choices – how do the quotes shape your understanding of what the IB means by academic honesty?
- Make sure your write these themes down on slips of paper to use in the next activity. Collate all the slips (themes) from the staff discussion.
Tip:
Ensure that in addition to the quotes on the wall you have copies of the quotes so that staff can take one away back to their table to discuss. Copies could be put in see-through folders below the quote in the quilt.
The Quotes
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- “Academic honesty is an essential aspect of teaching and learning in IB programmes where action is based on inquiry and reflection." (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB 2014)
“We live in an age in which we are all flooded by information and opinions. How can we help students navigate these waters so that they are able to confidently talk or write about what they are learning, making visible and explicit how they have constructed their ideas and what views they have followed or rejected? This is essentially what academic honesty is: making knowledge, understanding and thinking transparent. “(Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB 2014)
"Academic honesty in the International Baccalaureate is a set of value and behaviours informed by attributes of the learner profile. In teaching, learning and assessment, principle of academic honesty serve to promote personal integrity, engender respect for the integrity of others and their work, and ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they acquire during their studies." (Academic honesty in practice, Global session guidelines - Workshop Planner)
“In order to fully master the technical aspects of academic honesty, such as accurately citing and referencing, students need to understand how knowledge is constructed and, consequently, their own role in furthering knowledge construction and building understanding.” (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014)
“A safe and encouraging learning environment in which students can explore ideas and make visible the development of their own thinking will support academically honest behaviours.” (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014)
“The principle of academic honesty should be viewed positively by the entire school community and become a natural part of academic study, remaining with the IB student throughout his or her education and beyond.” (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014)
"Academic honesty is an important dimension in the authentic construction of meaning and learning in all IB programmes." (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014)
"Academic honesty is part of being “principled”, a learner profile attribute where learners strive to “act with integrity and honesty” as we question, inquire and act (IB learner profile in review: Report and recommendation (April 2013)
“Academic honesty … has become increasingly important as access to information through technological innovation has increased, and ideas about learning and how knowledge is constructed have changed.” (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014)
“Teaching and learning in the DP must develop the positive behaviours that students will need to demonstrate clearly that they complete their work carefully, honestly and authentically.” (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014)
“DP students develop research skills and study habits that are needed to demonstrate academic honesty in more formal ways than would be appropriate to expect of younger learners. DP students investigate and evaluate the usefulness of a greater variety of resources, and incorporate and reference them within oral and written presentations of increasingly complex formats.” (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014)
“All IB students understand the importance of acknowledging others because it is a central feature of the constructivist, inquiry-based approach promoted in all IB programmes; yet, in the DP, this requires the explicit teaching and learning of specific conventions accepted in a community of learners for being transparent about the use of ideas and work of others—note making, in-text citation and the preparation of a bibliography, to name but a few examples.” (Academic honesty in the IB educational context, IB, 2014)
Tools for detecting malpractice
The IB identifies a number of forms of malpractice. The largest detected form of malpractice is plagiarism which is defined as using the ideas, words or thoughts of another person in your own work without adequately and appropriately referencing them. Collusion is the next most used malpractice and is defined as supporting the misconduct of another student by allowing them to copy your work. Duplication of work is when a student submits the same piece of work for different assessment components. Other forms of malpractice that occur are taking unauthorized material into an examination, falsifying records (e.g. CAS record).
The internet contains a number of tools that students and teachers can use to detect plagiarism. Some are free services and some require the payment of a fee.
 | Free search toolsGoogle, Yahoo, Bing, Lycos, Altavista, Alltheweb. When using these tools you will also need to use the Ctl+F (i.e. find key) to identify when words occur together. |
 | Fee based search toolsTurn It In, Urkund |
Activity 3: Detecting malpractice
The purpose of this activity is to help staff use the search tools when teaching about the importance of academic honesty. They are essentially learning tools for students.
- Select a few student assignments and make them anonymous for this exercise. Ensure that some have examples of plagiarism in them.
- Staff use the different search tools available to detect malpractice.
- Discussion on what counts as (a) appropriate and inappropriate citation; (b) plagiarism; (c) appropriate and inappropriate paraphrasing.
Activity 4: Our approach to academic honesty
This activity helps you build on the understanding you have gained about the IB approach to academic honesty from activity 2 to write or review your own policy.
Use the Heart of the Matter protocol to have a table and then whole staff discussion (in plenary) on what is at the heart of your approach to academic honesty.
- Use the themes you have agreed on in activity 2 as the statements you use in this exercise. Ensure that each table has a set of these themes written on strips of paper and placed in an envelope.
- Draw a large heart in the middle of an A3 piece of paper.
- Group opens envelope and examines contents together.
- Group arranges statements in order of importance.
- Group constructs a proximal map putting the most important statement, word or priority, closest to the centre of the heart. All statements are arranged in order of importance and their relationship with each other.
- Share completed map with another group and adjust your map if necessary.
- Construct an agreed map and be prepared to explain it to others.
- Leader facilitates a plenary drawing out key themes and the thinking behind the decisions made.
Activity 6: Promoting academic honesty
- Use the learning from this workshop to create a Top Tips presentation for use with students. The presentation should try and put an emphasis on the positive aspects of academic honesty and not focus just on how to avoid malpractice.
- Consider how the librarian helps students to understand academic honesty? What links do students have with local universities especially for accessing material to work on their extended essays?
Case study: The International School of Azerbaijan
Click HERE to visit the website of The International School of Azerbaijan where they have written a series of excellent posters for all key stakeholder groups (students, parents, librraian, Principal, teachers) on living our academic integrity.
- Academic Integrity, IB, 2019
- The Handbook of procedures for the Diploma Programme contains a good section on academic honesty with notes on the following: policy / what constitutes misconduct? / the authentication of candidates' work / the use of plagiarism detection software / alleged academic misconduct during an examination / the improper conduct of an assessment / actions to be taken by the IB for alleged breaches to the regulations.
- A really helpful IB poster on Are you completing your IB assignments honestly? can be found by clicking here.
The IB have commissioned a number of research and position papers on Academic Honesty. They are hosted on the IB website. Due to copyright protection I cannot provide you with a direct link to them. However, if you copy and paste the following information into a search engine you will easily access them.
- Academic Honesty in the IB educational context (IB, 2014) aims to support schools in developing an academic honesty ethos.
- Effective citing and referencing, (IB, 2014) provides IB guidance.
- Academic Honesty in the IB, an IB position paper, Jude Carroll (IB, 2012)
- Academic honesty - principles into practice (IB, 2014)
- Click here to access WHITE PAPER The Sources in Student Writing – Secondary Education, Turnitin (2013).
The importance of academic integrity: Q&A with IB Academic Integrity Manager, Celina Garza: In this two-part Q&A session, we asked Celina Garza, IB Academic Integrity Manager, a few questions about the importance of academic integrity. This second part specifically focuses on cheating and what schools can do to foster a culture of academic integrity in assessments.
The Ohio State University has an excellent page on A positive approach to academic integrity.